Know-how

THE MILL

Our company is one of the last surviving firms to weave, manufacture finished products and create custom-made items from raw fleece using National Heritage-listed machines. From generation to generation, we perpetuate a rare and preserved set of skills and expertise. Our Séez factory is fully integrated, allowing us to produce our own wool, weave and apply a great number of finishes to our fabrics. It is in this way that we can guarantee the highest quality fabric.

Our fabrics have been renowned for their “rarity” for a very long time. For example, Arpin products were frequently given as dowries to newlyweds, accompanying them throughout their married lives.

CREATION

Our workshop combines our ancestral heritage with modern techniques to create customised products which meet even the highest standards.

This workshop is a crucible, providing the ideas for new versions of the brand’s iconic items and for new clients. They handle custom projects from beginning to end, for both professionals and demanding private clients (hotels, holiday homes, leisure centres, restaurants, chalets, lodges, etc.).

THE SECRETS OF OUR PRODUCTION PROCESS

These are the 24 steps you need to follow in order to produce the famous Drap de Bonneval fabric. By applying each of these steps with the necessary skill, the highest quality raw materials and an exceptional environment, you can achieve fabric of a rare quality.

At every stage of the production process, the Arpin Mill is stringent in its approach to the quality of its products and of its work. For example, we fringe all of our throws by hand - just like we did back in 1817 - for that incomparable artisanal finish. And because we’re committed to preserving the purity of our local Versoyen River, the Arpin Mill has decided to work with a French dye-maker with 60 years’ experience in the production of natural dyes. Like us, they also use the latest environmental protection equipment.

It takes dedication to use National Heritage machines on a daily basis. These machines are more than a hundred years old, and it takes great care and attention to work with them. This, however, is a price worth paying to perpetuate the unique artisanal heritage of our family and our exceptional skills and expertise.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The spinning mill did not wait for the ecological wave to affirm values of sustainable development. There are many concrete examples of this statement:

Since the beginning, the Arpin Spinning Mill has used the driving energy of the nearby Versoyen River.

Once washed with natural products, the wool is dried in the attic, purely through natural ventilation of the roof tiles.

From reception of raw Séez-St-Bernard wool from producers, to sending lengths to our factories, the Bonneval Cloth goes through more than 20 manual stages, generating a nowadays exemplary carbon footprint.